Some people like change, some others don’t. As educators we are often trying to make a difference as change agents in our own organizations. Sometimes it is easy, but not always...
Everett Rogers, a sociologist, writer and teacher introduced his theory on the diffusion of innovations in 1962, explaining the rate of adoption. According to Rogers, each innovation has five attributes and it is the individual’s perceptions of these attributes that will determine the rate of adoption. The five attributes are:
- Relative advantage, referring to the benefits that people identify in adopting an innovation.
- Compatibility, which is the degree to which an innovation is consistent to people’s values, experiences and/or needs.
- Complexity, referring to the perceived challenges of adopting an innovation.
- Trial-ability, which is the degree to which people can experiment with an innovation on a limited basis before deciding whether or not they will adopt it.
- Observability, referring to the degree to which people can directly observe the results of using an innovation.
Reflect at your own situation. When was the last time you were in a position to decide whether or not to adopt an innovation? What advantages and challenges you could identify in adopting it? Were the innovation’s characteristics compatible to your needs/values/experiences? Did you have any opportunities to try out the innovation before deciding? Were the results of using it relatively easy to observe? You may find that for different innovations there are different attributes that have greater impact on our decisions.
Looking into a learning organization such as a school, it is not only the teachers’ perceptions on these five attributes that will determine the rate of adoption of an innovation. It is also the students, sometimes their parents, but most importantly school leaders whose perceptions will have a big impact. When an innovation is introduced in a system where its members have different roles, needs and perceptions, things might become more complicated.
For a teacher for example, considering that implementing some Web2.0 tools in the classroom will help them to provide students with more opportunities for independent learning and collaboration, might be an important advantage they identify. For them, challenges related to learning how to use new online tools might not have a negative impact to their decision, due to the relative advantage they see. Perhaps this teacher had already had the chance to experiment with some tools and maybe they started to observe changes in students’ ability to self-direct their learning and collaboration. However, another teacher, a student, a school leader, a parent, whose priorities and goals are not the same might have different perceptions.
Building a shared vision among the members of the school community (Segne, cited in Smith, 2001) is very important , in order to “foster genuine commitment and enrollment rather than compliance”. This way, when introducing an innovation, members of the system will have a similar reference point when assessing its usefulness, as well as when they are working towards effective ways to implement it. Look at your own context again. Change is not easy. Investigate. What are the priorities of other individuals at your own institution? What is their vision? What is your vision? How can the innovation you want to introduce address yours and others’ vision? How can you build up a shared vision?
“As people talk, the vision grows clearer. As it gets clearer, enthusiasm for its benefits grow” (Senge, p.227, cited in Smith, 2001).
Resources:
Photo by David King
Rogers, E. (2003). The diffusion of innovations. (5th ed.). New York: The Free Press.
Smith, M. K. (2001). Peter Senge and the learning organization, the encyclopedia of informal education.
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